quote:

Originally posted by Sunsnail shuttle launches literally bring a tear to my eye

haha. I hope to go in space atleast as a tourist in my life time.

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Originally posted by twilightki : It feels like something you'd listen to at 4 in the morning, or listen to in your car while you're going in a tunnel.

that was totally rad

That deep impact thingie we crashed into the comet a few years ago was going like 140,000 mph when it hit.

Space shuttles are slow

you don't want the shuttle to go too fast else it'll slip out of the earth's gravity and head for the moon

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Originally posted by twilightki : It feels like something you'd listen to at 4 in the morning, or listen to in your car while you're going in a tunnel.

question:
why do they launch straight up into the air and not take off like regular airplanes do?
Do they want to get through the atmosphere as fast a possible to reduce the stress of the heat shields?

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at some point they have to escape gravity. No air up there so wings dont work

quite possibly because the vertical thrust required to put the vehicle in orbit can only be provided by very powerful rocket engines. The space shuttle was flying at 15000 miles/hr in the vertical direction just to reach a low earth orbit.

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Originally posted by twilightki : It feels like something you'd listen to at 4 in the morning, or listen to in your car while you're going in a tunnel.

quote:

Originally posted by SuspicionVandit question: why do they launch straight up into the air and not take off like regular airplanes do? Do they want to get through the atmosphere as fast a possible to reduce the stress of the heat shields?

It would be a waste of fuel to take off like a plane. They also don't go straight up, they go at an angle

quote:

Originally posted by Orbax at some point they have to escape gravity. No air up there so wings dont work

The space shuttle never escapes earth's gravity. The escape velocity for earth is about 6.8 miles/sec. The space shuttle needs very high tangential velocity when it's circling the earth to prevent itself from falling back. This velocity needs to be given to the shuttle before it is injected into the orbit. Besides the vehicle is vertical only during launch. Immediately after launch the vehicle starts to roll and as it goes higher up into the orbit, it is actually flying like a plane with a tank attached to the bottom. The wings only help the shuttle during its landing phase when it is essentially a glider. They are possibly of no use during the liftoff and in-orbit phase.

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Download and review ! Omega_M - In the Mix (Beta Version)

Originally posted by twilightki : It feels like something you'd listen to at 4 in the morning, or listen to in your car while you're going in a tunnel.

quote:

Originally posted by SuspicionVandit question: why do they launch straight up into the air and not take off like regular airplanes do? Do they want to get through the atmosphere as fast a possible to reduce the stress of the heat shields?

shuttles don't go up 90 degrees...They actually go more like a 45 degree angle away from the direction the earth is turning.

If the earth is going clockwise, the shuttle flies both counterclockwise and upwards

I'd try to describe it better but my brain hurts now.

thats what i was saying though. even our high flying spy planes have substantial thrust power because wings dont work up there. Then add the amount of weight the shuttle is and you just cant get off the ground with all their crap.

also, its NASA, they decided on it, so its better